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After Shakespeare: An Anthology (Language for Life)

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John Gross, who edited _The Oxford Book of Aphorisms_ twenty years ago, has revived the idea behind the _Shakespeare Allusion Book_. That book compiled quotations about Shakespeare and his works in literature from 1591 to 1700. _After Shakespeare_ also reaches back into Shakespeare's era, and is arranged differently, but it still makes a good bookend for the earlier book.

The book is arranged into chapters of quotations about Shakespeare himself, his plays, his poetry, his influence in foreign lands, his appearance in novels, plays, movies, and adaptations of his works. There is considerable overlap, as many of these divisions are quite subjective. And the collection isn't all quips; there are lengthy excerpts of plays, novels, and essays. The quotes that appeal to me are the pithiest ones, however. King George III is recorded in a courtier's diary as complaining how rubbishy much of Shakespeare is, though one musn't say so. William Hazlitt contrasts the greatness of the Bard's work with the teeming insignificance of the critical writings that sprung up about him. Georg Christoph Lichtenberg marvels at how Shakespeare uses remarkable turns of phrase, which other writers would highlight, as throwaway lines.

But there's doubtless treasure in every chapter here for any Shakespeare lover. A fine, fun collection by a great, erudite anthologist.